Continuous Biocatalysis in Environmentally-Friendly Media: A Triple Synergy for Future Sustainable Processes

Enzyme catalysis (biocatalysis) is a mature strategy to perform organic synthesis with high selectivity and under mild reaction conditions. However, despite their origin and biodegradability, the simple use of enzymes is not sufficient to validate a process as green or sustainable. To reinforce the value that biocatalysis may offer, enzymatic processes can be established in environmentally-friendly media, such as water, neoteric solvents (e. g. deep-eutectic-solvents, DES), biogenic solvents (e. g. 2-MeTHF or terpenes), or even solvent-free systems (if substrates allow that). Furthermore, these options can be conducted in continuous biocatalytic processes, which are more efficient and sustainable. Hence, a triple synergy is generated, and very promising environmentally-friendly options can be envisaged. This conceptual paper discusses these alternatives, providing relevant, recently reported, successful examples.